Rumors swirl over death of ‘Expendables 2′ stuntman

Kun Lieu died in blast on Bulgarian shoot

PRAGUE — The death of a stuntman and the serious injury of a second while shooting actioner “The Expendables 2″ in Bulgaria has prompted a rumor storm in the local press.

A statement released by pic reps said it was “absolutely false and inaccurate” that the stuntmen hurt in an explosion on the set at Lake Ognyanovo were doubles for Jet Li and Sylvester Stallone.

The Oct. 27 blast sequence on an inflatable boat on the Ognyanovo dam, 15 miles outside Sofia, caused the death of stuntman Kun Lieu and the hospitalization of Nuo Sun, who is in serious but stable condition following his flight to a Munich hospital.

The incident, on the second unit set, occurred while the main cast was shooting in a different location 2.5 hours away in Bansko.

Pic, shooting at Nu Boyana studios, is one of Bulgaria’s major production foreign productions of the year, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren and Bruce Willis in a story that pits one team of veteran commandos against another.

Willis was quoted last year saying he hoped the pic would “start shooting while we’re young enough to survive.”